"That is the characteristic of our time — all the imagination is in the hands of the evildoers."

Awaking to a Dream

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

have a confession to make: I am the foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times and I didn't listen to one second of the 9/11 hearings and I didn't read one story in the paper about them. Not one second. Not one story.

Lord knows, it's not out of indifference to 9/11. It's because I made up my mind about that event a long time ago: It was not a failure of intelligence, it was a failure of imagination. We could have had perfect intelligence on all the key pieces of 9/11, but the fact is we lacked — for the very best of reasons — people with evil enough imaginations to put those pieces together and realize that 19 young men were going to hijack four airplanes for suicide attacks against our national symbols and kill as many innocent civilians as they could, for no stated reason at all.

Imagination is on my mind a lot these days, because it seems to me that the only people with imagination in the world right now are the bad guys. As my friend, the Middle East analyst Stephen P. Cohen, says, "That is the characteristic of our time — all the imagination is in the hands of the evildoers."

I am so hungry for a positive surprise. I am so hungry to hear a politician, a statesman, a business leader surprise me in a good way. It has been so long. It's been over 10 years since Yitzhak Rabin thrust out his hand to Yasir Arafat on the White House lawn. Yes, yes, I know, Arafat turned out to be a fraud. But for a brief, shining moment, an old warrior, Mr. Rabin, stepped out of himself, his past, and all his scar tissue, and imagined something different. It's been a long time.

I have this routine. I get up every morning around 6 a.m., fire up my computer, call up AOL's news page and then hold my breath to see what outrage has happened in the world overnight. A massive bombing in Iraq or Madrid? More murderous violence in Israel? A hotel going up in flames in Bali or a synagogue in Istanbul? More U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq?

I so hunger to wake up and be surprised with some really good news — by someone who totally steps out of himself or herself, imagines something different and thrusts out a hand.

I want to wake up and read that President Bush has decided to offer a real alternative to the stalled Kyoto Protocol to reduce global warming. I want to wake up and read that 10,000 Palestinian mothers marched on Hamas headquarters to demand that their sons and daughters never again be recruited for suicide bombings. I want to wake up and read that Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia invited Ariel Sharon to his home in Riyadh to personally hand him the Abdullah peace plan and Mr. Sharon responded by freezing Israeli settlements as a good-will gesture.

I want to wake up and read that General Motors has decided it will no longer make gas-guzzling Hummers and President Bush has decided to replace his limousine with an armor-plated Toyota Prius, a hybrid car that gets over 40 miles to the gallon.

I want to wake up and read that Cheney has apologized to the U.N. and all our allies for being wrong about W.M.D. in Iraq, but then appealed to our allies to join with the U.S. in an even more important project — helping Iraqis build some kind of democratic framework. I want to wake up and read that Tom DeLay called for a tax hike on the rich in order to save Social Security and Medicare for the next generation and to finance all our underfunded education programs.

I want to wake up and read that Justice Antonin Scalia has recused himself from ruling on the case involving Mr. Cheney's energy task force when it comes before the Supreme Court — not because Mr. Scalia did anything illegal in duck hunting with the V.P., but because our Supreme Court is so sacred, so vital to what makes our society special — its rule of law — that he wouldn't want to do anything that might have even a whiff of impropriety.

I want to wake up and read that Mr. Bush has announced a Manhattan Project to develop renewable energies that will end America's addiction to crude oil by 2010. I want to wake up and read that Mel Gibson just announced that his next film will be called "Moses" and all the profits will be donated to the Holocaust Museum.

Most of all, I want to wake up and read that John Kerry just asked John McCain to be his vice president, because if Mr. Kerry wins he intends not to waste his four years avoiding America's hardest problems — health care, deficits, energy, education — but to tackle them, and that can only be done with a bipartisan spirit and bipartisan team.
source...

Name:	Fair Play
To:	LIkudnik hatemongering publicity mavens
Re:	Sharon's war is NOT the United States war!

Message:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Israel's isolation ... and ours

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: March 29, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 Creators Syndicate, Inc. "Israel has a right to defend itself," said President Bush. And against whom was Israel defending itself at dawn on Monday?

A half-blind and deaf paraplegic terror leader being wheeled out of a mosque after prayers, Sheik Ahmed Yassin was struck by missiles that blew him to pieces. In carrying out the assassination of the founder and terror leader of Hamas, Ariel Sharon used a U.S. Apache helicopter gunship. Thus, in Islamic eyes, we are passive accomplices in the killing of a terrorist leader.

Instantly, protests erupted in Mosul and Basra. Ayatollah al-Sistani, the Shiite leader on whom we depend for a peaceful transfer of power in Iraq, was enraged: "[T]his morning, the occupying Zionist entity committed an ugly crime against the Palestinian people by killing one of their heroes, scholar-martyr Ahmed Yassin."

Sharon's defenders say the sheik had sanctioned terror attacks on innocent Israelis. But why did Israel not then seize him, expose his complicity in murder, and put him in prison, as Israel had before? Why convert this crippled old sheik into a martyr-saint? Why enhance the prestige of Hamas?

Has the killing made Israel more secure? If so, why were Israeli buses deserted all week? Has it made us more secure? Why then were the travel advisories issued to Americans in the Middle East? Why are U.S. embassies shutting down? How does inflaming the Islamic world against us advance the president's goal of persuading the world that Islam is not America's enemy?

President Bush must begin to realize that his blind solidarity with Sharon, who has shown himself contemptuous of America's interests in the larger region, is among the greatest crosses we have to bear in the war on terror.

A year after the fall of Baghdad, Bush's men are boasting of his triumphs – the overthrow of the Taliban, the liberation of Iraq, not one act of terror on U.S. soil in two years. But consider the war from bin Laden's vantage point.

The murderous strike of 9-11 electrified America-haters, but produced blowback and near total disaster for bin Laden. In weeks, Bush had united a great coalition, smashed the Taliban and almost finished Osama himself at Tora Bora. Then came Iraq.

Here Bush played straight into bin Laden's hand. By attacking a prostrate Arab nation that played no role in 9-11, we united Arab and Islamic peoples in hatred of America. We shattered alliances and ignited a guerrilla war.

According to a Pew poll, U.S. prestige in the Muslim world has never been lower. Bush is widely detested. In Pakistan, 65 percent of the people hold Osama in high regard, while 8 percent are positive on Bush. We are losing the hearts and minds of the Islamic young, creating a spawning pool out of which future terrorists will emerge.

Now, an attack in Madrid has left 200 dead and blown a hole in our coalition. A socialist has come to power who intends to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq. Poland, too, has begun to waver

As Bush wins battles, Osama advances toward his strategic goals: Demonization of America as the enemy of Islam, isolation of America as an imperialist aggressor against Arab nations and the enabler of Sharon, and unification of Islam's young behind bin Laden's ultimate war aim: the expulsion of America from all Muslim lands.

The legendary Col. John Boyd described strategy as appending to oneself as many centers of power as possible, while isolating one's enemy from as many centers of power as possible.

Bush I did this brilliantly in the Gulf War, isolating Saddam. Bush II did it brilliantly in the Afghan war, isolating the Taliban. Now Bush has fallen into the trap his father avoided. He is letting Ariel Sharon create the perception that America's war and Israel's war are one and the same.

In the Middle East, Sharon has no friends. He does not care whom he alienates. But we are a world power with friend, allies and interests in 22 Arab and 57 Muslim countries.

To protect our interests, to win our war on al-Qaida, it is imperative that we not let ourselves become as isolated as Israel is today.

Between America and Israel, there are thus common interests and a collision of interests. Sharon does not want us to confine our war on terror to those who attacked us on 9-11. He wants us to expand our list of enemies to include his list of enemies: Arafat, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia. He wants us to escalate "the firemen's war" into an American war on Israel's enemies, so, together, we can establish joint hegemony in the Middle East.

If Sharon and his acolytes in the Bush administration succeed in conflating Sharon's war with America's war, we could lose our war. Why cannot the president see what is going on? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pat Buchanan

Name:	Ladies at FOI
To:	Expose Author, Gerald
Re:	Just call us, wire copy fees, and we'll replace the files

In response to:
Particular files from the remaining 11 boxes were also taken, Nicosia said, including files containing documents about Kerry that hadn't been reviewed yet by others. "The three files folders about John Kerry were taken," Nicosia said. "Those revelations are lost now, at least to me." mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/8287736.htm _______

Name:	Da Nuze
Re:	Kerry's Other War Record

Message:
His antiwar activities deserve more scrutiny from the press.

John Kerry mentions his service in Vietnam so frequently that it has become a running joke on the campaign press plane. He seldom if ever mentions his postwar activities as a national coordinator and principal spokesman for Vietnam Veterans Against the War, a group he says he quit in 1971 because he was concerned about its radical agenda. One reason may be that a credibility gap has started to widen over his antiwar history, and he clearly doesn't want to discuss it at length. His campaign is issuing misleading and evasive statements on his antiwar service in a way that would do the Pentagon spinners of the Johnson and Nixon administrations proud.

In fact, Mr. Kerry acts as if he can't remember much about the VVAW at all. This month his campaign several times said he "never, ever" attended a Kansas City meeting of antiwar leadership where members discussed and voted on an assassination plot against pro-war U.S. senators. Then, when confronted with FBI surveillance records of the meeting, the campaign acknowledged his presence as "an historical footnote." Mr. Kerry told a Boston radio station the whole story was "such ancient history." It was time to move on.

Not so fast. Mr. Kerry's campaign has done more than contradict itself. It has been in full coverup mode. John Musgrave, one of the six witnesses who placed Mr. Kerry at the Kansas City meeting, says the head of Veterans for Kerry, John Hurley, called him twice and pressured him to change the story he had already told a Kansas City Star reporter about the 1971 meeting.

According to Mr. Musgrave, Mr. Hurley told him that the senator "was definitely not in Kansas City." The New York Sun reports that Mr. Musgrave, who received three Purple Hearts in Vietnam, told Mr. Hurley that "I remember what I remember." Mr. Hurley then said, "Why don't you refresh your memory and call that reporter back?" Mr. Hurley says he thinks Mr. Musgrave is mistaken and was simply insisting Mr. Musgrave be very sure of his recollection. "I would apologize to John Musgrave if he thought in any way I was pressuring him," he told the Kansas City Star. There's another reason the issue shouldn't just die. Last month Democratic chairman Terry McAuliffe gave the party's imprimatur to the claim that George W. Bush's had gone AWOL during his Vietnam-era service in the Air National Guard. Earlier, a supporter of then-candidate Wesley Clark had accused Mr. Bush of desertion, a felony. Reporters spent days hounding White House spokesmen for records on the subject. In the end, it became clear that Mr. Bush chose to serve stateside during the war, was lax in attending guard duty during his last year, and had to feverishly make it up before he was honorably discharged. It's clear President Bush doesn't want to talk about his service, but reporters pressed for answers anyway.

It's time they do the same for Mr. Kerry, who has laid down his actions in the Vietnam era as a marker for his character and, according to the Boston Globe, has refused to release his military records. Instead, Jack Kelly, a respected military columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, believes many journalists are "more interested in defeating President Bush than in providing readers with potentially important information which reflects poorly on Sen. John Kerry." Mr. Kerry burst onto the national political stage in 1969 when he returned from Vietnam after receiving a Silver Star and a Bronze Star for heroism in combat. The New York Times reported that Mr. Kerry had "asked for, and been given, an early release from the Navy so he could run for Congress on an antiwar platform." He unsuccessfully sought election in two different Massachusetts districts, in 1970 and 1972. The Globe reported that in the space of two months in early 1972 he lived in three congressional districts while deciding where to run. In April 1971, Mr. Kerry captivated television audiences with his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His testimony went far beyond the now-uncontroversial position that Vietnam was a mistake. Mr. Kerry took a benign view of the Viet Cong and urged immediate withdrawal. He told the senators that American servicemen had committed atrocities, including the razing of villages "in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan." These were not isolated incidents, Mr. Kerry claimed, but happened "on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command." He said that 200,000 Vietnamese a year were "murdered by the United States of America." A Kerry spokesman now distances the candidate from the word "murdered," saying he "never suggested or believed and absolutely rejects the idea that the word applied to service of the American soldiers in Vietnam." But as the New Hampshire Sunday News put it, if he wasn't saying U.S. soldiers murdered 200,000 people a year, then who in the world could he have meant? The USO? Mr. Kerry now says he was relying on the "highly documented and highly disturbing" stories he heard at a Detroit conference funded by Jane Fonda. The Naval Investigative Service later found that some of the most grisly testimony there was given by false witnesses. Even Daniel Ellsberg, the famous leaker of the Pentagon Papers, rejected the argument that the most horrible U.S. atrocity in Vietnam, My Lai, was in any way a normal event. But Mr. Kerry spent over a year rehashing the Detroit hearsay allegations in speeches and on national television even though he had no personal knowledge of the events. After his testimony, Mr. Kerry became the celebrity voice of the VVAW, at the same time that he became increasingly alienated from the group. The controversy about Mr. Kerry's presence at a meeting of the VVAW steering committee on Nov. 12 through 15, 1971, seven months after his testimony, erupted this month after writer Thomas Lipscomb broke the story in the New York Sun that several veterans remembered Mr. Kerry being present at the meeting when Scott Camil, a key leader of the VWAW from Florida, proposed the assassination of key pro-war senators, including Republican Strom Thurmond of South Carolina and Democrat John Stennis of Mississippi. Mr. Camil was known to fellow VVAW activists as "Scott the Assassin." He says he got the name in Vietnam for "sneaking down to the Vietnamese villages at night and killing people." He says he organized eight to 10 former Marines to plan the project. Gerald Nicosia, a historian who supports Mr. Kerry and whose 2001 book "Home to War" sympathetically chronicled the activities of the VVAW, told the New York Sun that "Camil was deadly serious, brilliant and highly logical." In his book he reports that "what Camil sketched was so explosive that the coordinators feared lest government agents even hear of it," so they moved their meeting to a Mennonite hall. There, according to six eyewitnesses interviewed by the Sun, the plan was discussed and voted down, with Mr. Kerry speaking out against it, although there is disagreement about how narrow the margin of defeat was. On the third day of the meeting, Mr. Kerry and three other people resigned from their posts as national coordinators of VVAW. Historian Douglas Brinkley says Mr. Kerry told him he quit because of "personality conflicts and differences in political philosophy." Mr. Kerry also told Mr. Brinkley that he was a "no show" in Kansas City. Mr. Camil doesn't dispute the Nicosia book's accounts. "I'm sorry about those discussions now, but they did take place," he says. He says he doesn't remember Mr. Kerry attending the Kansas City meeting. He says he plans to accept an offer from Mr. Kerry's Florida campaign to become an active supporter and was invited to a meeting for the senator last week in Orlando, although the two did not meet face-to-face. Mr. Nicosia says the incident raises some valid issues. "Was John obligated to go to the police on this?" he asks. "I think if the thing ever got off the ground, Kerry would do something to stop it." Indeed, in June 1971 National Review quoted Mr. Kerry as describing less violent tactics the VVAW employed as "horrible. . . . Ripping out wires from cars, slashing tires--it's criminal. It should be punished." But did he resign from the group itself at the November 1971 meeting in Kansas City, or just from its national leadership? Two months after Kansas City he represented VVAW at a speech at Dartmouth College. On Jan. 26, 1972, he was at a Washington protest meeting where the New York Times described him as "a leader of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War." "The question is: Did Kerry quit [VVAW] before Kansas City or did he quit after Kansas City?" Mr. Brinkley told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg. "If he quit after Kansas City, that means he clearly knew about this assassination plot against the senators and never went to the authorities." Mr. Kerry's memory on all of these issues is very fuzzy. At a Capitol Hill news conference this month he was asked if he thought his credibility had been affected by his close ties to Al Hubbard, a key player in the VVAW, who had appointed Mr. Kerry to the group's leadership. He and Mr. Hubbard subsequently appeared together many times, including on NBC's "Meet the Press." It later turned out that Mr. Hubbard never served in Vietnam, was never wounded as he had claimed, and wasn't the officer he claimed to have been. Mr. Kerry responded that he had not spoken to Mr. Hubbard since April 1971. But the New York Times places both men at an August 1971 VVAW fund-raising party in the Hamptons (on New York's Long Island), and Mr. Musgrave, the veteran who claims the Kerry campaign pressured to change his story, says he recalls Mr. Kerry challenging Mr. Hubbard's credentials at the November 1971 Kansas City meeting. Normally, one shouldn't make too much of Mr. Kerry's inability to recall in detail events of 33 years ago, even though they were the most formative of his political career. But he has "misremembered" a lot of key facts about the period. The circumstantial evidence indicates that he is desperate to avoid discussion of those days. Two Kerry defenders called Mr. Lipscomb a "liar" on national TV. The candidate's veterans' adviser apparently tried to pressure someone to deny he attended the Kansas City meeting. The story is unlikely to go away completely. Last week Gerald Nicosia, the historian who first uncovered evidence the FBI tailed Mr. Kerry back in 1971, reported to police that three of the 14 boxes of the FBI files he obtained under the Freedom of Information Act were stolen from his California home and that other individual files from the remaining 11 boxes were also swiped, including documents about Mr. Kerry that Mr. Nicosia hadn't yet reviewed. "Those revelations are lost now, at least to me," Mr. Nicosia told the Associated Press. Someone, either friend or foe of Mr. Kerry, apparently knew what he was looking for. The ghost of Vietnam and the culture war it has engendered won't go away. Now the controversy over what Mr. Kerry knew and when did he know it has been spiced up by the whodunit of the third-rate burglary of his FBI files. Sounds like a story to me.

Name:	Average Joe Citizen
To:	the people
Re:	It's pink slip time for Democrats "helping" Bush!

In response to:
While Clarke testified under oath last week that he would not join a Kerry administration, he is now, in effect, part of the Kerry campaign. His book's publication was timed to coincide with his testimony, and his transformed posture is one of political partisan

Message:
On last Sunday (March 28,2004) Clarke told Chris Mathews that (Paraphrased)"I planned to release this book at Christmas but cannot control when the publisher will start the presses!" Sure you did, and you waited until after the ax fell to find your head and write the book. Sure you had to remember all the classified material that the Executive Branch had to Censor because of your blasted loose lips. Now you have us believe that you didn't carry off your hard drive, a laptop, or copy off a lot of notes for the book while working for Bush. Now you pretend you like Bush but dispise his people. Now that the Bush White House has been briefed and trained by Clinton holdovers, it is way past time to REPLACE THESE PEOPLE with loyal Republicans denied jobs because "experienced people were needed". The experienced people have stabbed their bosses in the back one time too many. Numerous leaks can be sealed. Besides if they have not trained sufficiently by now, they never will.

Name:	Milan
Re:	Buchanon's latest rant

Message:
1) "Israel has a right to defend itself," said President Bush. And against whom was Israel defending itself at dawn on Monday? ...A half-blind and deaf paraplegic being wheeled out of a mosque after prayers

RESPONSE: Using a criminal's physical state as an "entitelement" for special treatment is a pathetic tactic of the left. Buchanon is getting REALLY desperate.

2) But why did Israel not then seize him, expose his complicity in murder, and put him in prison, as Israel had before?

RESPONSE: Why doesn't the U.S. do everything possible to seize Bin Laden alive? The poor guy has failing kidneys. So what if this is a war...

3) How does inflaming the Islamic world against us advance the president's goal of persuading the world that Islam is not America's enemy?

RESPONSE: The people who are inflamed were never our allies in the first place. It's high time they came out of the closet to show their true colors.

Our "engagement" with Saudi Arabia only resulted in 80% of America's mosques dominated by radical Muslim leadership, a growing 5th column in our prisons and our universities, and the lax security that lead to 9/11.

4) By attacking a prostrate Arab nation that played no role in 9-11, we united Arab and Islamic peoples in hatred of America.

RESPONSE: The humanitarian and military cost of keeping Iraq contained was on the top of Al Qaeda's reasons for 9/11. Only an invasion of Iraq would address this festering hatred.

RESPONSE: The only true isolationist is in this picture are our fair weather "friends" in old Europe. It's high time they showed their true colors too.

The "guerilla war" gets increasingly depraved as it gets weaker, and it is making Al Qaeda much less appealing to the Iraqis. In a captured document from Iraq, a senior Al-Qaeda leader laments the difficulty in recruiting Iraqis.

6) According to a Pew poll, U.S. prestige in the Muslim world has never been lower. Bush is widely detested.

RESPONSE: This is the same culture that praises Bin Laden, and mourns the death of on of (Yassin) on of the most depraved terrorist leaders. Do you think we should care what they think of America anymore?

RESPONSE: Is this America's fault? Buchanon is getting desperate again. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? At this rate, Pacifica radio will asking him to do a regular show!

8) The legendary Col. John Boyd described strategy as appending to oneself as many centers of power as possible, while isolating one's enemy from as many centers of power as possible. Bush I did this brilliantly in the Gulf War, isolating Saddam.

RESPONSE: Culminating in a costly containment campaign with U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, 500,000 (Yes, half a million) Iraqi civilians dead from sactions, an "oil for food" program that did little to help the Iraqi people as it bought Saddam influence abroad, while further corrupting the U.N.

9) To protect our interests, to win our war on al-Qaida, it is imperative that we not let ourselves become as isolated as Israel is today.

RESPONSE: De-evoltution is happening all around, and the vertebrate sub-phylum is endangered:

The reaction of most European leaders to Yassin's assasination shows exactly how far they strayed from the values that made Western civilization so great. Thank God that our leaders have the backbone to still acknowledge Israel's right to self-defense.

10) Sharon ... wants us to escalate "the firemen's war" into an American war on Israel's enemies, so, together, we can establish joint hegemony in the Middle East.

RESPONSE: Jeeze...Buchanon is starting to sound like those crazies who those "journalists" from Al-Jazeera who wallow in conspiracy theories.

Name:	Just a Man by Los Lobos
To:	Avg Joe Cit and the Bush people
Re:	By Jove, I concurr, sir!

In response to:
Now that the Bush White House has been briefed and trained by Clinton holdovers, it is way past time to REPLACE THESE PEOPLE with loyal Republicans denied jobs because "experienced people were needed". The experienced people have stabbed their bosses in the back one time too many. Numerous leaks can be sealed. Besides if they have not trained sufficiently by now, they never will.

Message:
Clinton had very few holdovers. Other than Greenspan, most were his own people from Arkansas. Not much backstabbing resulted. George Stepanophalos is not really a sour graper, just a poser so he can appear to be unbiased. This helped him get his face back on TV, the little ham! He didn't really expose any Clinton secrets.

Bush is seen by the noble as magnanamous, but many see him as taking bad advice and giving Democrats a place so they can do Bush in. In the words of Bush I, "wouldn't be prudent to keep these fellows." Better now than wait until GRENCH time before Christmas or Winter Solice to you Clintonian practicioners of magick. Or after Christmas. NOW is the time. Strike while the public is with you against these Clarke types who are just waiting for you to turn your back.

Name:	Smedley
To:	Milan
Re:	Buchanon is getting REALLY desperate.

In response to:
1) "Israel has a right to defend itself," said President Bush. And against whom was Israel defending itself at dawn on Monday? ...A half-blind and deaf paraplegic being wheeled out of a mosque after prayers

RESPONSE: Using a criminal's physical state as an "entitelement" for special treatment is a pathetic tactic of the left.

Message:
I am not exactly a Buchanan fan, but I think that he's right-on in this case.

This seemingly harmless paraplegic bastard had ordered the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians, including children. This is not a case of domestic terrorism as Gaza is not part of Israel, and the old bastard was not an Israeli citizen.

I'm not a fan of Sharon either, but the old bastard was justified in shoving a few missiles up the other old bastard's arse.

Name:	Fair Play
To:	ET
Re:	The DNC threw down the gauntlet

Message:
Release those records John

Name:	FP
To:	ET (the Gauntlet!)
Re:	the monicker stealer pretends t be someone else

In response to:
Fair Play To: ET

Name:

Great Ghosts O' Nixon

In response to:
That's a dun ringer, not me. The records are a nothing burger issue

Message:
Sure that's why Mr. Nicosia's office was burglarized. Were Kerry's plumbers union members?

Name:	SUV
To:	Milan

Message:
Your points covered in 1 thru 10 were very well done. Congratulations on a well thought out post.

Name:	And the hits keep coming
Re:	Release those records John..

Message:
Gerald Nicosia, a historian who supports Mr. Kerry and whose 2001 book "Home to War" sympathetically chronicled the activities of the VVAW, told the New York Sun that "Camil was deadly serious, brilliant and highly logical." In his book he reports that "what Camil sketched was so explosive that the coordinators feared lest government agents even hear of it," so they moved their meeting to a Mennonite hall. There, according to six eyewitnesses interviewed by the Sun, the plan was discussed and voted down, with Mr. Kerry speaking out against it, although there is disagreement about how narrow the margin of defeat was. On the third day of the meeting, Mr. Kerry and three other people resigned from their posts as national coordinators of VVAW. Historian Douglas Brinkley says Mr. Kerry told him he quit because of "personality conflicts and differences in political philosophy." Mr. Kerry also told Mr. Brinkley that he was a "no show" in Kansas City.

Mr. Camil doesn't dispute the Nicosia book's accounts. "I'm sorry about those discussions now, but they did take place," he says. He says he doesn't remember Mr. Kerry attending the Kansas City meeting. He says he plans to accept an offer from Mr. Kerry's Florida campaign to become an active supporter and was invited to a meeting for the senator last week in Orlando, although the two did not meet face-to-face.

Mr. Nicosia says the incident raises some valid issues. "Was John obligated to go to the police on this?" he asks. "I think if the thing ever got off the ground, Kerry would do something to stop it."

Name:	SonofPurpleHeart
Re:	Since only "happy" thoughts allowed on Kerry's website

Message:
Murdering’ troops? What could Kerry have meant?

BACK IN 1971, John Kerry said that 200,000 Vietnamese a year were “murdered by the United States of America.” Now he says he didn’t mean “murdered” and wasn’t referring to U.S. soldiers. Well then, what in the world did he mean?

After accessing transcripts of testimony Kerry gave to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971, The Boston Globe reported Kerry’s “murdered” comment last Thursday. The paper also reported that Kerry claimed to have flown to Paris and “talked with both delegations at the peace talks,” clearly giving the impression that he was in some way involved in the Paris peace negotiations.

Now Kerry says his Paris trip was a private affair with his wife, and he only met the Vietnamese for a few minutes. But back in 1971 he wanted people to think the trip was of some significance. The claim is reminiscent of Kerry’s more recent boasts that he has talked with world leaders who want Bush out of office and that he had a close friend in Massachusetts who heard on good authority that Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was kidnapped. Kerry has a habit of claiming that he is privy to inside information, then backing off when questioned about such boasts.

But back to his charge that the United States was murdering 200,000 Vietnamese a year. Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan told the Globe that Kerry “never suggested or believed and absolutely rejects the idea that the word applied to service of the American soldiers in Vietnam.” If he wasn’t referring to the United States military, then who in the world could he have meant? The USO?

Either the 1971 John Kerry was lying, or the 2004 John Kerry is lying — or both. We think both.

Name:	ET
To:	Smedley

Message:
I can't get through to you. You think it's OK for the Bush team to sleaze Kerry because the Kerry team is sleazing them.

Name:	HRC Forum
To:	Big Fat Lying Hypocrite

Message:
But the Bush team is NOT sleazing Kerry!!

Name:	liberal
To:	Anti-Semite

In response to:
No....the IZZIS are getting REALLY desperate. When they have to use airborne missiles to take out a quadriplegic just coming out of services; that was designed specifically to keep things roiling and the war schtick lucrative, particularly so for stateside cupcakes like Milan, or at least for the fascist gangsters she shills for.

Message:
With anti-semites like you on the left who, in their right mind, would vote for your side?

Your side wants to go the same way as Spain. Go to BuzzFlash and there you will see a mini-movie that tells you to "go with Spain and reject your leaders, Bush and Blair, while lulling you with Middle Eastern music.

Name:

Joe Kerr

Message:
I was traveling between Phoenix and Chicago the other day, and south of Kansas City when a tire blew out. Checking my spare, I found that it too was flat. My only option was to flag down a passing motorist and get a ride to the next town.

The first vehicle to stop was an old man in a van. He yelled out the window, "Need a lift?"

Another guy stopped, rolled down the window, and asked me the same question. Again, I gave the same answer, "Republican." The driver gave me the finger and drove off.

I thought it over and decided that maybe I should change my strategy, since this area seemed to be overly political and there appeared to be few Republicans. The next car to stop was a red convertible driven by a beautiful blonde.

She smiled seductively and asked if I was Democrat or Republican. "Democrat!" I shouted.

Driving down the road, I couldn't help but stare at this gorgeous woman in the seat next to me, the wind blowing through her hair, perfect breasts, and a short skirt that continued to ride higher and higher up her thighs.

Finally, I yelled," Please stop the car." She immediately slammed on the brakes and as soon as the car stopped, I jumped out.

"I can't take it anymore," I replied. "I've only been a Democrat for five minutes and, already, I want to screw somebody." >

Name:	HRC Forum
To:	Big Fat Lying Hypocrite

In response to:
But the Bush team is NOT sleazing Kerry!!

Message:
Now you are telling me black is white? I can read. I have read the trash that has come down on this forum about Kerry. Do you think we're blind? What about that fake photo of Kerry and Fonda that you guys love to post on this forum over and over again. It's a lie.

Name:	Da NUZe
To:	ET

Message:
Highlighting someone's VOTING record is not SLEAZING. The Bush team has not brought up Kerry's military record, the DNC tried bringing up something they resolved in 2000.

Name:	Fair Play
To:	hatemongering liberal
Re:	Jews OK, Isarel SUCKS

In response to:
With anti-semites like you on the left who, in their right mind, would vote for your side? Your side wants to go the same way as Spain. Go to BuzzFlash and there you will see a mini-movie that tells you to "go with Spain and reject your leaders, Bush and Blair, while lulling you with Middle Eastern music

Name:	ET
To:	Jackson Kicker

In response to:
This seemingly harmless bastard Sharon had ordered the deaths of thousands of non-Israeli civilians, including children. This was a case of terrorism on Isarel's part as Gaza is not part of Israel, and the old quadriplegic coming out of church was trying to liberate his people from the tyrannical Isareli occupation.

Message:
Why don't you count the Israeli children and Israeli citizens that have been murdered by the Palestinians?

Name:	liberal
To:	hatemongering unfair play

In response to:
You are wrong on every count and you know it, Libbie.

Message:
Instead of insulting me why are you too scared to go to BuzzFlash and see for yourself. It was on the bottom right hand corner last week.

Name:	ET
To:	Da NUZe

In response to:
Highlighting someone's VOTING record is not SLEAZING. The Bush team has not brought up Kerry's military record, the DNC tried bringing up something they resolved in 2000.

RESPONSE: Of course it is NOT sleazing. But you know what I am referring to. Just look at the mastheads of Forums 1126, and 1127 and you know what I am talking about.

These forums have been filled with posters impugning Kerry's military record. That hurts the GOP a lot more than it hurts Kerry. The GOP is making a lot of mistakes in this election. Somebody should fire the person in charge.

Name:	ET
To:	Big Fat Lying Hypocrite

In response to:
I don't know whether you can read but I know you sure can lie and you would as soon lie as tell the truth. The Fonda/Kerry photo was not fromthe Bush camp. Heck, the Dean people have posted the really damning backgroumd about Kerry. All the Bush campaign has done in their ads is to spotlight documented votes that Kerry made inconsistent with his rhetoric.

Name:	TE
To:	ET
Re:	Izzis have killed & wounded about 31/2 times more Palestinians

Message:
Same to you. You really have no room to be criticizing any one on this issue.

Name:	Dr. Jack Kavorkian
To:	forum
Re:	Have a heart!

In response to:
Saddam Husseen looked so pitiful, misses his sons and longs to join them. His suffering should end quickly. This French attorney will just remind Husseen how much he misses his boys.

Message:
If I could only guard this poor man. I could help him see God instead of suffering like this.

Name:	XYZ
To:	ET

In response to:
I can't get through to you. You think it's OK for the Bush team to sleaze Kerry because the Kerry team is sleazing them.

Message:
Exactly HOW has the BUSH team "sleazed" Kerry? Please cite specific examples with sources (posts on this forum do not count, as your implication is that the Bush Administration and Bush Campaign is involved in this "sleazing." It is highly doubtful that members of the Bush Administration and Bush Campaign are coming to this forum in disguise to post "sleaze" regarding John Kerry).

So, please cite specific examples with sources as to exactly how the Bush Administration and/or 2004 Bush Presidential Campaign Staff has "sleazed" John Kerry.

Name:	ET
To:	Big Fat Lying Hypocrite

In response to:
I don't know whether you can read but I know you sure can lie and you would as soon lie as tell the truth.

Message:
You just don't get it do you? Slandering me or anyone else on the left does not win points. Many of us Democrats supported Bush and the War on Iraq. Many of us Democrats are concerned about the anti-semitism on the left. We are also concerned about the folks at BuzzFlash who want us to "join Spain and reject our leaders". Many of us on the left are concerned that Kerry may not be tough on terrorists.

I know that Hillary will be very tough on the terrorists. She has steadfastly committed herself on that point.

But we are worried about the left appeasing the terrorists. Stop insulting us and making us hate you. That is the last thing you should do. A very large number of Democrats supported Bush and admire his war on terror. You are doing a lot of harm by sleazing us. You are making us hate you by calling us liars. We had eight years of right-wing hatred against the Clintons, but this time it is different.

Name:	Da Nuze
To:	ET

In response to:
These forums have been filled with posters impugning Kerry's military record. That hurts the GOP a lot more than it hurts Kerry. The GOP is making a lot of mistakes in this election. Somebody should fire the person in charge.

Name:	ET
To:	XYZ

In response to:
Exactly HOW has the BUSH team "sleazed" Kerry? Please cite specific examples with sources (posts on this forum do not count, as your implication is that the Bush Administration and Bush Campaign is involved in this "sleazing." It is highly doubtful that members of the Bush Administration and Bush Campaign are coming to this forum in disguise to post "sleaze" regarding John Kerry). So, please cite specific examples with sources as to exactly how the Bush Administration and/or 2004 Bush Presidential Campaign Staff has "sleazed" John Kerry. We will be anxiously awaiting your detailed and ...

Message:
I can't believe you do not know that "everything comes from the top" -- If the Bush team-at-the-top does not want the right to impugn Kerry's military record the little nobodies that do it would be ignored and told to stop. We would see the right telling their little followers to behave. We would respect that.

But we do NOT respect the Bush-team-at-the top NOT SIGNALLING TO THIS WHOLE COUNTRY THAT THIS SH*T MUST STOP!!! That would get my respect, and it would also win back the centrist Democrats.

Bush should hire me as his campaign consultant and kick all the hatemongers off his team. Bush is dividing this country and forcing us to take sides. The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy also forced this country to take sides. The last thing you want in this war on terror is to force this country to take one side or the other.

There is NO MIDDLE GROUND and that is VERY SERIOUS for everybody in America.

Name:	Conservative Republican
To:	ET

Message:
It's not just the centrist Democrats that Bush is alienating. He is also scaring fiscal conservatives, and libertarian conservatives.

Name:	The American People
To:	Democrats big on accusation but short on supporting evidence

In response to:
Now you are telling me black is white? I can read. I have read the trash that has come down on this forum about Kerry. Do you think we're blind? What about that fake photo of Kerry and Fonda that you guys love to post on this forum over and over again. It's a lie.

Please cite this "trash" and/or "sleaze" you talk about so often yet completely refused to substantiate.

Name:	RELEASE THOSE RECORDS
To:	ET

In response to:
can't believe you do not know that "everything comes from the top" -- If the Bush team-at-the-top does not want the right to impugn Kerry's military record the little nobodies that do it would be ignored and told to stop. We would see the right telling their little followers to behave. We would respect that. But we do NOT respect the Bush-team-at-the top NOT SIGNALLING TO THIS WHOLE COUNTRY THAT THIS SH*T MUST STOP!!! That would get my respect, and it would also win back the centrist Democrats. Bush should hire me as his campaign consultant and kick all the hatemongers off his team. Bus ...

Message:
Whatever happened to free-will? Under a Kerry Presidency will free-speech be suppressed? Can't we question him like a REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE? I want to know why he didn't report those activists to the police. They were plotting to ASSASSINATE US SENATORS. His testimony SMEARED EVERY SOLDIER COMING HOME FROM VIETNAM.

Name:	ET
To:	insulters on the right

Message:
I'm not responding the sleaze on the right who think that by personally insulting me and impugning my character they will score points with me. You are just fools who are sinking the ship for all of us.

Name:	Delbert @ thagrage
To:	Merci Moo
Re:	I think your real name is ANN LEWIS!!!!!!!!!!

In response to:
Your points covered in 1 thru 10 were very well done. Congratulations on a well thought out post.

Name:	Smedley
To:	ET

In response to:
There is NO MIDDLE GROUND and that is VERY SERIOUS for everybody in America.

The answer is NO ONE. No person in the GOP is impugning Kerry's military record. You cannot name a name, can you! The reason is that your rhetoric is nothing but butkus spewed forth from the DNC gutter, and your masters have given you instructions to spread the lies, but they aren't around to help when the lies show transparent.

Meanwhile, I can provide quotes from Kerry, Clinton, Gore, McAuliffe, Dean, Donna Brazille and a dozen other top Dems who're busy racing to the gutter to impugn Bush's integrety both with his military record, regarding WMD rhetoric and regarding "what Bush knew before 9-11".

Bush should hire me as his campaign consultant and kick all the hatemongers off his team. ... Hahahahahaaaaaagh.

Why don't you first talk about removing the hatemongers from your Dem backyard first. I mean, even if you were enabled to remove them big, bad GOP hatemongers, you can't even identify them. not a one.

Name:

Vietnam Vet

In response to:
His testimony SMEARED EVERY SOLDIER COMING HOME FROM VIETNAM.

Message:
Skerry is an idiot. He was an officer and if he was aware of what he claimed and did nothing to stop it he should have been court martialed. HE is the one doing the slurring. Get that through your thick skull.

Name:	Osama Bin Laden
To:	Divide and Conquer

Message:
Stupid Americans. They are divide one side against the other. Hahahahaha. I am sitting here laughing because they are making it so easy for me to: DIVIDE & CONQUER

Name:	KEVIN SHELLEY
To:	forum

In response to:
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Name:	ET
To:	Smedley

Message:
As the saying goes: "It's not enough to be good. You have to be seen to be good."

Why hasn't the Bush team got the ba*lls to step out into the sunshine and tell their followers the military record of Kerry who served our country honorably is OFF LIMITS.

Name:

Fair is Fair

In response to:
As the saying goes: "It's not enough to be good. You have to be seen to be good."

Message:
So Kerry should release his records, especially in light of Terry McCauliffe's BS about National Guard service

Name:	Muslim watcher
To:	forum
Re:	Problem is epidemic and obviously so.

In response to:
22 Arab and 57 Muslim countries.

Message:
This should be 22 and 22, the fact that it has spread like a cancer to over 1/4 th of the countries of the entire world is evidence of this scurge that is upon us all. These people cannot and will not proclaim allegence to the host country since their religion insists that the gain the upper hand by whatever means, rapid immigration, high birth rates, killing infadels who resist and other means. That's what that Tripoli tribute was all about when the US Marines first encountered terrorism so many years ago. The Muslim pirates were extracting tribute or let you live money from their neighbors instead of being productive members of society.

Anybody who regularly attends more than once, a mosque advocating violence or violent overthrow of the host country, should be expelled from that host country. Going once with open ears would be enough to know that this "religious leader" is just another hater and that mosque advocates death!

Message:
The fact is that your behaviour is reprehensible. It is dishonest. It is shameless. If calling you to task to provide some substantial evidence to back your lie is in fact is an insult, then I've insulted you. I do not deny this, and it would be stupid for me to do so.

However, the fact is that your behaviour is reprehensible. It is dishonest. It is shameless.

God, such a simple thing to post a little ol' URL -- preferably two or three -- from reputable news sources (not moveon.org op-ed sewers) showing where major GOP figures under the control of Bush impugned Kerry's military record.

So simple, yet beyond your reach -- literally. Lord of P'Loads has tried it for weeks, but inevitably his sources (as with practically everything) boil down to opinions spewed on blogs, DNC-controlled sites or the IHATEBUSH site du jour.

The only difference so far in this issue is that, in the absence of real evidence, you haven't demanded that I disprove your nonsense.

Name:	Dennis Bird
To:	ET
Re:	Tired of the sucker-punches from dissembling pissants

In response to:
I can't get through to you. You think it's OK for the Bush team to sleaze Kerry because the Kerry team is sleazing them.

Message:
What you are calling sleaze is mostly factual. You have seen what the barrage of (mostly GENUINE) sleaze, primarily originated by the Kerry/DNC axis and eagerly amplified, extended, and projected by a willingly complicit media and directed at the Bush administration in the last several weeks has done to his poll numbers.

You are terrified that some (mostly accurate and justified) negative comments about Kerry-Kohn now emanating from the Bush camp will cause his poll numbers to plummet. Kerry is a rat. He has a very long record in public life, both in and out of congress, and a (remarkably short) miltary record that precedes it.

You folks didn't have to annoint Kerry-Kohn and put him forward as a presidential candidate, but you did. Many people, myself among them, will vigorously oppose him for a number of very good reasons. I will not apologize for doing so, either. You Democrats/Progressives/Socialists passed over a number of far better persons than Kerry-Kohn, persons who are far cleaner Leftists than Kerry, too, in order to to elevate this rat.

Name:	Great Ghosts O' Nixon
To:	ET

Message:
So ET do you think "rightwingers" broke into Mr. Nicosia's office? Why doesn't Kerry's website allow any article that questions his voting record? Or that highlights the fact that Heinz outsources jobs overseas?

If the press is supposed to probe, how come all the probing is on Bush's National Guard Service and not on Kerry's Vietnam Service which he mentions everytime he inhales?

Name:

XYZ

In response to:
You folks didn't have to annoint Kerry-Kohn and put him forward as a presidential candidate, but you did. Many people, myself among them, will vigorously oppose him for a number of very good reasons. I will not apologize for doing so, either. You Democrats/Progressives/Socialists passed over a number of far better persons than Kerry-Kohn, persons who are far cleaner Leftists than Kerry, too, in order to to elevate this rat.

Message:
True. I respect and somewhat admire Lieberman. And Edwards would have been a much more attractive candidate. Democrats basically nominated the first un-Dean that thought could win. But in the process, they slit their throats.

Name:	ET
To:	XYZ

In response to:
Why hasn't the Kerry team got the ba*lls to step out into the sunshine and tell their followers the military record of Bush who served our country honorably is OFF LIMITS.

RELATIVE MORALITY: You are practicing relative morality if you insist on measuring the Bush team's conduct against the Kerry team, and insist that only when the Kerry team shapes up will the Bush team clean up their act. You insist that the Bush Team's morality is entirely dependent on the Kerry team's morality, and that the Bush team cannot rise above the fray because they have no moral standing of their own.

I respect leaders who know what is right and do what is right. I do not respect leaders who say, "well Kerry is doing it so I can do it" - That is NOT A LEADER.

Name:	Smedley
To:	ET

In response to:
Why hasn't the Bush team got the ba*lls to step out into the sunshine and tell their followers the military record of Kerry who served our country honorably is OFF LIMITS.

Message:
First of all, the Dems have savaged Bush on the same issue to the point of being ridiculous.

Second of all, in the off-chance that you haven't heard, Kerry did serve in VietNam and has won a number of medals. It's become a national joke. If Kerry's service record is at issue it is because Kerry put it at issue -- the same way he put at issue those "meetings" with foreign leaders.

Personally, I'm curious as to why such a heroic figure as J. F'ing Kerry needs to keep his military records hushed. If Kerry wants to tout his military service - fine. However, the American people should be able to adjudge Kerry's military service with all the facts, not just the ones Kerry deems fit for public consumption.

Name:	Baconswitch
To:	Thutr Muslin Muncher
Re:	I am a Christian American, and I put God above my country, too!

In response to:
This should be 22 and 22, the fact that it has spread like a cancer to over 1/4 th of the countries of the entire world is evidence of this scurge that is upon us all. These people cannot and will not proclaim allegence to the host country since their religion insists that the gain the upper hand by whatever means, rapid immigration, high birth rates, killing infadels who resist and other means

Name:	Miss Otie
To:	Smedley
Re:	What's HE done to deserve that?

In response to:
By the way, when are you going to add the moveon.org hyperlink to the Marquis?

Name:	Asking the Unasked Questions
To:	forum
Re:	OPEN LETTER OF QUESTIONS

In response to:
Too bad CBS,ABS,NBS, Cresent News Network and others have the cajones in HRCs testacle lockbox!

Did you notice how soft Lesley Stahl’s gloves were in the 60 Minutes interview with Richard Clarke? Charlie Gibson’s pitches were equally soft on Good Morning, America. Well, I have ten questions that could have been asked of Richard Clarke, but weren’t. You can read them below or listen to the audio link. See if my questions change your perception or opinion of Clarke's answers based on what you heard in either of these interviews.

Question number 1: Mr. Clarke, the first time the Sudanese government offered bin Laden to the United States, exactly what advice did you give Bill Clinton?

Question number 2: Mr. Clarke, the second time the Sudanese government offered bin Laden to the United States, exactly what advice did you give Bill Clinton?

Question number 3: Mr. Clarke, the third time the Sudanese government offered bin Laden to the United States, exactly what advice did you give Bill Clinton?

Question number 4: When Al-Qaeda attacked our barracks in Saudi Arabia, Mr. Clarke, what exactly advice did you give Clinton for striking back at them?

Question number 5: Mr. Clarke, when Al-Qaeda attacked the World Trade Center in 1993, what advice did you give Clinton for striking back at them?

Question number 6: Mr. Clarke, when Al-Qaeda attacked the USS Cole in 2000, what advice did you give President Clinton for striking back at them?

Question number 7: Mr. Clarke, when Al-Qaeda attacked the two U.S. embassies in North Africa, weren't you one of the experts who advised Clinton to bomb the pharmaceutical factory in Sudan?

Question number 8: Mr. Clarke, when Clinton was slashing the defense budget in the face of these Al-Qaeda attacks, did you advise him against it?

Question number 9: Mr. Clarke, when Clinton undermined the CIA in the face of all these takers, did you advise him against doing that?

Question number 10: Mr. Clarke, isn't it true that you and your colleagues in the Clinton administration generally were complete and miserable failures in defending this nation for eight years, and isn't it a little weak of you to now come forward and say that what Bush didn't do in the first nine months of his term, is pathetic?

Name:

Who raised the issue of Vietnam?

Message:
RELATIVE MORALITY: You are practicing relative morality if you insist on measuring the Kerry team's conduct against the Bush team, and insist that only when the Bush team shapes up will the Kerry team clean up their act. You insist that the Kerry Team's morality is entirely dependent on the Bush team's morality, and that the Kerry team cannot rise above the fray because they have no moral standing of their own.

Name:	ET
To:	Dennis Bird

In response to:
What you are calling sleaze is mostly factual. You have seen what the barrage of (mostly GENUINE) sleaze, primarily originated by the Kerry/DNC axis and eagerly amplified, extended, and projected by a willingly complicit media and directed at the Bush administration in the last several weeks has done to his poll numbers. You are terrified that some (mostly accurate and justified) negative comments about Kerry-Kohn now emanating from the Bush camp will cause his poll numbers to plummet. Kerry is a rat. He has a very long record in public life, both in and out of congress, and a (remarkably s ...

If the Bush team ties it's conduct to the Kerry team's conduct. Bush will lose. Can't you see this? Bush is the one in power. The Bush team should be PRESIDENTIAL - Above it all! The Bush team must give centrist Democrats something to respect.

This is not an ordinary presidential election. This is probably the most important presidential election we have had in years. The Bush team must not cloud up what they stand for by bashing Kerry on anything other than how Kerry plans to fight the war on terror?

If I was Bush's campaign consultant I would be bashing Kerry because he does not have a plan to fight terrorism. THAT'S A STRONG POINT!

But the right loves to shoot itself in the foot. Instead of hitting Kerry on a point where it concerns all of us, you fight over petty things, like what Clinton did with his pec*ker - petty stuff. All you succeeded in doing was promoting Hillary to Senator!!! Petty stuff that distracted this nation.

Now you are bashing Kerry on this military record instead of bashing him because he has no plan to fight terrorism. Why are you such petty fools??? Why are you wasting such precious time? What are you alienating the centrist Democrats and making them hate you? If you think you can win without the centrist Democrats - you can't.

.. So keep on insulting me personally. Keep on impugning Kerry's military record. Keep finding petty stuff to bash Kerry with, and I guarantee you are going to lose.

Name:

Citizen of the World

Message:
Kerry isn't the Un-Dean...He won't release his records either. But he is becoming more and more like Nixon.

Name:	Citizen of the World
Re:	Kerry and Latin America

Message:
By LARRY BIRNS and JESSICA LEIGHT

In a series of foreign policy formulations in recent days, the presumptive Democratic party presidential nominee, Senator John Kerry, has issued a number of statements on Latin American-related subjects which, if anything, appear to outflank on the right the Bush administration's extremist regional policymakers, as he shamelessly panders to the anti-Castro paranoia of a group of aging but wealthy Cuban-American ideologues in South Florida, and rich Venezuelan expatriates in Coral Gables. His two primary targets have been President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Cuba's Fidel Castro. While commendably finding fault with Bush policy regarding Secretary of State Powell's failure to protect the Aristide government in Haiti, Kerry's rhetoric regarding Cuba and Venezuela is reminiscent of barren Cold War strictures which, for all purposes, places him in the same extremist ideological bracket as the administration's two chief Latin American policy makers; the State Department's Roger Noriega and the Bush White House's Otto Reich.

Strong on Haiti Regarding Haiti, Kerry has said, "This administration has been engaged in very manipulative and wrongful ways. They have a theological and an ideological hatred for Aristide. They always have. They approached this so the [anti-Aristide] insurgents were empowered by this administration." He also has observed in reference to Haiti, "People will know I'm tough and I'm prepared to do what is necessary to defend the United States of America, and that includes the unilateral deployment of troops if necessary." Such declarations have raised hopes that a Kerry administration will take a more forceful stand in favor of Haitian democracy and commit the resources needed to stabilize the country's battered institutions and uphold its constitution, which has been all but ignored by Powell.

Regarding Castro, Kerry called for the continuation and intensification of Washington's near-universally acknowledged failed embargo policy towards Havana. ''I'm pretty tough on Castro, because I think he's running one of the last vestiges of a Stalinist secret police government in the world,'' Kerry remarked in recent days. When asked whether he endorsed lifting the embargo, he answered, "Not unilaterally, not now, no." In truth, any action would have to be unilateral, since the embargo is not honored by any other country in the world. As for sending back Elian to his father in Cuba several years ago, Kerry observed, "I don't agree with that. I didn't like the way they did it." Regarding the virulently anti-Castro Helms-Burton measure, Kerry said, "I voted for the Helms-Burton legislation to be tough on companies that deal with him [Castro]."

Having endeavored throughout the Democratic primaries to establish his credentials as an advocate of a more principled and professional method of international engagement, in contrast to the interventionist and unilateralist blunderings of the current administration when it came to the Iraq war, the senator is now in danger of tarnishing that reputation through his reckless endorsement of the White House's long discredited Latin America policies that are now even opposed by conservative farm state Republican legislators and businessmen. The positions staked out by Kerry are so far to the right that they even challenge Noriega and Reich for their extremism and irrationality. By so flagrantly tacking to the prevailing political winds in South Florida, Kerry risks alienating voters from elsewhere in the country who want not a reprise of Bush and Powell's tainted foreign policy, but a bold and visionary alternative. Kerry's statements could also potentially deal a heavy blow against Democratic efforts to mobilize some of the more disaffected members of its party base in a year where the drop out of even a handful of previously committed Democratic dissidents could prove deadly to his electoral prospects. (excerpt) http://www.counterpunch.org/birns03272004.html

Name:	Grand Ma Mou
To:	ET
Re:	Running a pissant for President of the United States

In response to:
I respect leaders who know what is right and do what is right. I do not respect leaders who say, "well Kerry is doing it so I can do it" - That is NOT A LEADER.

Message:
It seems to me that you are broadly characterizing factual negative comments about Kerry-Kohn and his highly fluid positions as "sleaze".

You seem to expect Republicans and other Bush supporters to simply shut the hell up and leave the floor to Kerry-Kohn and his rabid pack of yapping bark-dogs and media flacks. It ain't going to happen.

Looking strictly at each man's record over the last four years, Bush and Kerry are not equivalents. Kerry is on all counts the lesser man by FAR. Looking only at each man's record in elective office, John Forbes Kerry-Kohn is FAR more the political/ideological extremist than George W. Bush is, too!

Name:	Matchless
To:	Buncha Buller

In response to:
Here Bush played straight into bin Laden's hand. By attacking a prostrate Arab nation that played no role in 9-11, we united Arab and Islamic peoples in hatred of America. We shattered alliances and ignited a guerrilla war.

Message:
Hardly prostate, Saddam had been amassing WMDs and developing a bomb. Pakistan's revelation that their man had sold atomic secrets to the highest bidder and proliferated the atomic bomb. Saddam had been using his stray and extra illigitimate cash to fund kiddy bombers in Israel, offer sanctuary and training,shred literally, the opposition with torture and confinement even for harmless children. Bush finished this nose-thumber and regained America's dignity. They may still mess with US but we at least provide consequences. We fool around so long that the WMDs have all been found new homes, but we eventually deal with the scum. Now if we will patrol Iraq's border murcilessly destroying any and all big game hunters who decide to "vacation" in Iraq, our troops will be all the safer. Just killing thirty or firty car-leads of armed Muslims weekly at the borders would make a big difference. Soon we'd only have to kill 4 or 5 car loads weekly of insurgents every week! This is the only humain solution. This would limit the hunting "season" on our troops until we can get the locals set up. Then we get the heck out just patrolling the borders and killing our 40 or 50 carloads of dirtbags weekly!

Name:	Dr. Art
To:	ET
Re:	Landslide

In response to:
All you succeeded in doing was promoting Hillary to Senator!!!

Message:
Mrs. Clinton is currently a senator for NY State because of the great imbalance that exist between the number of democrats and republicans. There are more registered democrats than republicans in NY State by a ratio of 5/3. Mrs. Clinton is not stupid, especially when it comes to politics, that is why she chose NY as her future residence. What is interesting to note is that Mr. Gore carried the state by a greater margin than did Mrs. Clinton.

Should Mr. Giulliani be so kind as to run against her in 2006, the stain of the Clintons will be forever removed from politics, God willing.

Name:

Re-Runs Again?

Message:
Average turnout in the Democratic Primaries...10%... one of the LOWEST in history.

Name:	Jam Sandwich
To:	ET
Re:	It's a two-man race. Either would be a fool to ignore the other.

In response to:
If the Bush team ties its conduct to the Kerry team's conduct, Bush will lose. Can't you see this?

What's more, President Bush has given "moderate" Democrats a great deal to respect and to appreciate, both as a campaigner and as a president! He has been a terrible disappointment to the rabid far-Right.

Name:	General Art
To:	Doc Holliday

In response to:
There are more registered democrats than republicans in NY State by a ratio of 5/3. Mrs. Clinton is not stupid, especially when it comes to politics, that is why she chose NY as her future residence

Message:
That whole business was Moynihan's doing and wouldn't have been possible without him - a one time deal, not transferable or renewable.

Name:	Great Ghosts O' Nixon
To:	ET

In response to:
the appearance of impropriety

Message:
When is Kerry going to tell Moveon.org to come out into the sun and refuse foreign donations? This is an American presidential election. .

Name:

Pacific Vubrations

In response to:
Supposedly....if the Bush team ties its conduct to the Kerry team's conduct,then....Supposedly... Bush will lose. Won't yoiu pleeeeease fall for this malarky?

Message:
When I see fantasies like the messag you posted I am greatly heartened because it shows that you are either clueless or despeate. I have been watching presidential elctions closely since 1960 and generally tend to the more hard vcrust not-so-great expectaions school of prognostication, regardless of which team is on deck.

And, my instincts and weather reports tell me that Bush has deep strength that transcends his propensity to ham it up at the wrong time, the secretive arrogance of Rove and Chey and the of coure the twin bugaboos of a middling economy and the world war 4 thing. The latter two I suspect most people realize were about on schedule anyway and that he is basically dealing with the problems pretty constructively.

George W. is basically a decent and sincere man, awkward sometimes but honest. And Kerry comes across as well,the opposite of that, which I think people had enough of during the Universal Studios Theme Park political spectaculars of the 90s. I was surprised by how weaak Kerry looked last fall and consequently I was astounded by how well he did once the primary started. The problem for the Demmys now is to connect Kerry with the American people. Because Kerry is basically a posh cookie ten years behind the times. George W. may not beas grand but I do not think the public wanyts grand right now, which is Hillie may be happier off the ticket.

You see what a Hollywood Squares reject Gerry Faerraro turned outto be and Hillie don't want that to happen.

Name:

Great Ghosts O' Nixon

Message:
Who broke into Gerard Nicosia's home and took those records? What did Mr. I've Been To Vietnam know about it?

Name:

Top Bean

In response to:
Who broke into Gerard Nicosia's home and took those records? What did Mr. I've Been To Vietnam know about it?

Message:
Let's see! Who would benefit into a delay into Mssr. Kerry's military record?

Name:

Civil Bagdasarian

Message:

Rapture Ready

Rapture Ready Home

Nearing Midnight

Rapture Ready Bulletin Board

Left Behind

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	Print a text version of this article
	KERRY TELLS VATICAN TO BUTT OUT

	Submitted By:Mark
	Click for Source Article
	John Kerry says he's not worried over rumbling in the Catholic Church that his political positions are out of step with its teachings. Despite positions on abortion and fetus-protection laws that oppose the church's, Kerry insists his faith will not be a campaign issue. "I don't tell church officials what to do and church officials shouldn't tell American politicians what to do in the context of our public life," Kerry tells Time magazine. "As John Kennedy said very clearly, I will be a president who happens to be a Catholic, not a Catholic president." Meanwhile, Kerry came under fire from President Bush for using a Bible verse to criticize leaders. Kerry did not mention Bush by name when he asked, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?" A Bush spokesman called that "a sad exploitation of scripture for a political attack."

Name:

Mr. Rogers

In response to:
KERRY TELLS VATICAN TO BUTT OUT

Name:

Individual

In response to:
Where was John Kerry when Bill Clinton was impugning the reputations of Ken Starr.

Message:
Ken Starr is a political hack. Kerry should have joined Clinton in making this clear to the American public.

Name:	Hoily Moley!
To:	John Fop Kerry-Kohn, Catholic of convenience
Re:	Yer full of it, Kohn!

In response to:
"I don't tell church officials what to do and church officials shouldn't tell American politicians what to do in the context of our public life," Kerry tells Time magazine.

Message:
Fuck you, J. Kohn Kerry. If you, especially as a public person, publicly call yourself a Catholic, and then publicly take positions that are irreconcilable with fundamental and long-standing doctrinal positions of the Catholic church, then church spokesmen have both a right and a duty to PUBLICLY differ with you, you vain narcissistic FOP!

Name:

Individual

In response to:
If you, especially as a public person, publicly call yourself a Catholic, and then publicly take positions that are irreconcilable with fundamental and long-standing doctrinal positions of the Catholic church, then church spokesmen have both a right and a duty to PUBLICLY differ with you, you vain narcissistic FOP!

Message:
Yeh, Kerry. Then you would be in the same company with Galileo, and we all know what a sinner he was. We found out during the Inquisition.

Name:	More Bad News for Democrats
Re:	The highly orchestrated Clarke attack has backfired.

Message:

Name:	HILLARY SUPPORTER
To:	ET

In response to:
I'm not responding the sleaze on the right who think that by personally insulting me and impugning my character they will score points with me. You are just fools who are sinking the ship for all of us.

Name:	Smedley
To:	Individual

In response to:
Good. We don't need a Papist in office.

Name:	HILLARY SUPPORTER
To:	ET
Re:	The name-calling right

Name:	Concerned
To:	All
Re:	FUMBLE!!!!!

In response to:
What Fumble?

Message:
What do you expect??! President Kerry is clearly under coordinated attack by a giant green SUV and a vicious alien life form disguised as a Osmond family member!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Name:	Smedley
To:	spIndividual

In response to:
Yeh, Kerry. Then you would be in the same company with Galileo, and we all know what a sinner he was. We found out during the Inquisition.

Message:
Galileo was arrested in 1633 until his death in 1642. The Church finally accepted that Galileo might be right in 1983.

That's about 1/10th the time it'll take for Democrats to admit GWB was right all along.

Name:

Smedley

In response to:
Why not? He would be better than a Rapist, and we've already had on of those in office.

Message:
You misunderestimate my words. I meant we don't need a sleazeball who goes abound quoting Christian scripture, but refuses to abide by Christian doctrine.

Name:	HRC Lizard
To:	Popup

Message:
No thanks. Take your popups to MadKane or DU.

The Pew Research Center: Bush Support Steady in Wake of Clarke Criticisms Source

Name:	Dawn Cornelius
To:	connie von carne

In response to:
life form disguised as a Osmond family member

Name:

khobar

Message:
fter 9/11, Bob Woodward wrote a book, in which he had incredible access and interviewed the President of the United States. He quotes President Bush as saying that he didn't feel a sense of urgency about Osama bin Laden. Woodward wrote that "bin Laden was not the President's focus or that of his national security team."

Name:	Dave
To:	Forum

Message:
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Gov. Ed Rendell (D) may live up to the moniker "Fast Eddie" if published reports about his executive detail's driving are true.

The governor rides in a shiny black Cadillac Deville DHS with a state trooper at the wheel.

Now there are accusations that the state-owned vehicle has been speeding repeatedly on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

An article in Monday's Philadelphia Daily News dubbed "Too Fast Eddie" said turnpike troopers clocked the Caddy doing more than 100 mph on nine different occasions since November.

"I am not aware of any instance of my executive detail being cited for driving at unlawfully high rates of speed. I depend on my detail to drive me to and from my many appointments each day ... and they serve me well," Rendell's statement read.

It is true no citations have been issued to the governor's drivers, but there are still questions about whether they were speeding.

State police spokeswoman Linette Quinn said state police received a complaint regarding the governor's vehicle speeding. She said internal affairs is investigating.

Quinn said state police do not encourage troopers to speed down the highway for any reason, unless there is an emergency.

The governor said he has asked state police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller to review the reports of his car speeding. Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Name:	More Bad News for Democrats
Re:	The DNC Clarke attack has backfired

Message:

Bush's Approval Rating Rises, Leads Kerry in (Gallup) Poll (Approval is 53%, highest in a year)

March 29 (Bloomberg) -- Public statements by a former White House official that U.S. President George W. Bush didn't make terrorism an urgent priority before Sept. 11, 2001, hasn't hurt the president's overall approval ratings, according to a new poll conducted for USA Today and Cable News Network.

The survey, conducted after former counter-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke testified before a Sept. 11 investigative panel, found the percentage of people who approved of the way the president is handling the threat of terrorism fell to 58 percent from 65 percent in December. The president's overall job approval still rose four points to 53 percent, the highest in more than a year.

Name:

Individual

In response to:
You further evidence your foolishness, or lack of verity, by completely ignoring far-reaching reforms in the Catholic church over the last several centuries!

Message:
Correct. The Catholic Church finally admitted that the Pope was fallible. The current problems with weirdo priests and bishops will pass.

Name:

Individual

In response to:
USA Today and Cable News Network, Bush 53% approval.

Message:
On March 21, Zogby reported that Bush's approval rating had tanked to 46%. We'll see which poll is correct when Zogby comes out with its next poll. Kerry needs to get after Osama as much as he gets after Bush--probably even more. Kerry needs to play his strong suit: He can get international cooperation much better than Bush. We absolutely need international cooperation at a high level for the long war on terrorism. Back off on the really bad Bush-bashing. Get mad about Osama and the religious Islamic flakes.

Name:	Ted Kennedy (Brother of JFK)
To:	John Kerrry
Re:	Service/Snall Boats

Name:	Jaguar XKE Cylinder Head Nut
To:	LOF

Message:
In my mind (and probably a lot of other people's minds) LOF was one of the big ones... Zodiak, Ripper, Torso, Green River.. serial killers, multiple victims, NEVER CAUGHT.

I think LOF considers himself to be part of this group of historic killers, and I am sure by now he is getting very mad at our lack of attention toward him. He wrote letters to the local paper (police too?) just like Zodiac and the Ripper, so we know he wants attention. And yet here we are, 20 years later, and LOF has never had a major book focusing just on him... All the others have had at least a few. Now, we know who the Green River Killer is, and Ridgway is all over the media.

The new communication from LOF is a big sign that he wants to scare people again, and he is wanting his media attention back. A lot of evidence shows that he may have been a student at the local Wichita college, and now, 20 years later, if his life isn't going as well as he had hoped after college (and whose does? especially someone as sick as LOF?) he may be thinking of stepping back up to his fame.

Name:

Individual

In response to:
No, he cannot, except perhaps by abject butt-kissing and making foolish concessions. Kerry is a major co-author of the problems we are dealing with today. He is no part of any solution to them.

Message:
Anybody can do better than Bush in the international arena. I wish the pollsters would ask that question: Who can do better at getting the needed international cooperation for the war on terrorism?

Name:	Calexico Donkey Tours
To:	Individual
Re:	Another fulminating heap of scatn from IndiMarxist

In response to:
Anybody can do better than Bush in the international arena. I wish the pollsters would ask that question: Who can do better at getting the needed international cooperation for the war on terrorism...

Message:
For you to suggest that ANY single person can accomplish this is absurd. Bush has done a good job in a very difficult situation, but the fact is, asshole, the world is full of people who expect the United States to help THEM in any number of ways, but who will not consider contributory cooperation with the U.S. even when it is clearly in their own best interest to do so.(witness France)

Cooperation is a TWO-PARTY activity, and the parties must willingly act together in good faith toward common goals. If one party is willing, and the other adamantly not willng, to contribute to the common enterprise as in the case of France, et al, there can be no true cooperation.

Some countries are willing to genuinely cooperate with us in difficult undertakings and some are not, and of course, not a few are open enemies and cannot be expected to cooperate with us under any reasonable circumstances. There is NOTHING that Kerry can do to change that, short of surrendering to the short-sighted FOOLS, as typified by the French, and calling it a victory, which I expect he would gladly do, and to your applause, you being the dingbat fool that you are.

Name:	Miss Behave
Re:	Back again !!

In response to:
Be careful what you wish for.

Message:
Hi, I'm Miss Behave. Sorry, I can't tell you about my work, or I'd have to kill you. Since my life keeps me on the run, you never know where I may be at any given time, nor would I be able to explain it to you. Every 7 years, I purge myself of my possessions, and make a point of never having a listed phone number. Currently I'm in Pennsylvania, in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant. That's as specific as I can be.

I avoid complicity in the misguided spending of American tax dollars by paying as little into the system as possible. I have never registered as a member of a political party, because my allegiance shifts like the desert sands. I have been called a gullible bleeding-heart liberal, and a mean-spirited nasty right-winger. Neither is true. I weigh each issue on its merits and say what I goddamned well please, without any adherence whatsoever to ideology.

The longer I live, the less respect I have for anything except loyalty. Apparently, it doesn't exist in this world, which keeps it pure from contamination.

Education: BA in English from a small college in New Hampshire. There are those who love it; I don't count myself among their number.

Special talents: fluent in Swedish, from my stint in...oh, never mind, I don't want to have to kill you. I'm good with both knives and razor blades. I can light cigarettes with my prehensile toes. Anything else, on a need-to-know basis only. I'll know if you need to know. I'm also psychic. I can make men bare their souls, so be on guard. Oh, and I can tie cherry stems into knots, a la Audrey in twin Peaks. I swear, it can be done.

Favorite quotations: "If they are of a strong character, and break their fetters, they become a mark for the society which has not succeeded in reducing them to commonplace, to point at with solemn warning as 'wild', 'erratic' and the like; much as if one should complain of the Niagara river for not flowing smoothly between its banks like a Dutch canal..." (John Stuart Mill, on individuality)

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by s who really mean it." (Mark Twain)

Name:	Fun with Imagination
To:	Forum
Re:	" Individual "

In response to:
this'll help ye......Uhh huh...... Some people call it a kaiser-blade I call it a sling-blade............

Message:
Do any of you remember the TV show about “WKRP in Cincinnati”? Remember the character Les Nessman? Now whenever you read a post from Individual, think of Les Nessman with a much lower I.Q. and bad hygiene.

Message:
It was confusing. In that I always confused Les Nessman with Ron Nesson. The latter being press secretary to President Gerry Ford, I think. I forget which one of them dropped the turkey, but both were conservative political icons (hee hee) who fitted everything to be the result of a creeping communist conspiracy, right?

Message:
WKRP--yes. Good analogies. Your confusing posts remind me a lot of Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson. Your poor taste reminds me of Herb Tarlek, he of the checkered pants.

Name:	Donkey Gong Show
To:	Daemon In Chequered Zeolite Pants
Re:	The nether portion of a pantomime horse...

In response to:
I can't tell you about my work, or I'd have to kill you. Since my life keeps me on the run,

Name:	Earl Billups
To:	Bug Fart
Re:	SQUIP!!

In response to:
On March 21, Zogby reported that Bush's approval rating had tanked to 46%. We'll see which poll is correct when Zogby comes out with its next poll. Kerry needs to get after Osama as much as he gets after Bush--probably even more

Name:	Smedley is Trash
To:	Smedley is Trash

Message:
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash
Smedley is Trash

Name:	LORD Colors
Re:	ip

Message:
It is a scam, and they are insisting on all of us buying it. How can a government get away with such scams? Money$$, that is the root of their evil. We have to be strong. We have to be persistant, and with us, the buck must stop. Maybe John F. Kenedy might have been for LSD, maybe that was why his own government shot him and swept it under the mat, and rushed-in Lyndon B. Johnson. The true power lies within the heart of the country, not the curupt ones in the driver's seat. It is a lot like the movie "A Bugs' Life". There are more of us, who are fore LSD. A good part of that number is in denial for fear of arrest. It is bad when we have people at the top talking for us who are LSD activists, them saying that we are against LSD. I bet they are even calling us terrorists. But they are just trying to justify crimes against humanity (all in the name of business as usual). LSD is exactly that, business as usual. Our rights are being violated every day just to make sure we conform to greedy gold-grabbers and insure their fortunes with no consideration toward our own future. They want us all to accept that we are less then the rich just because we don't look interesting enough to the politicians.

I would love to see a billion-person-march to protest against LSD harrassment and incarceration.

I would also like to see pictures of infamous politicians and earth-poisoners plastered everywhere so we can educate ourselves to be more aware of legalized crimes committed by political signifficant others and their bedfellows. I bet they are at the root of the LSD scandel. In this case it isn't majority rules(not with Jerrymandering still going on) but the size of the gun that tells us that cigarets are actually healthy for us and LSD will kill us.

Nobody is given power, it must be taken, like our rights being taken away in favour of unlimited freedom of the Republican to murder for money.

Name:	Gasoline Tiger
To:	America
Re:	Please, Sirs, may we have some more?

In response to:
The Johns Forbes Kerry (Kohn) "Plan" to "reduce gas prices"...AS IF THAT SUPER HIGH-TAXING, DRACONIAN REGULATING BAG OF CATSHIT GAVE A DAMN WHAT A GALLON OF GASOLINE COSTS AN ORDINARY AMERICAN!!!!! HE HAS SPENT THIRTY YEARS DOING EVERY DAMNED THING HE CAN TO DRIVE THE COST OF GASOLINE HIGHER!!...

Message:
KERRY PROPOSES THAT AMERICA GO BEGGING! (Figures. The revolting pissant IS PART FRENCH! )

Name:	The Little Old Watchmaker
To:	Individual
Re:	The shriek of an over-excited kindergartener...

In response to:
"Anybody can do better than Bush"

Name:

George Will

Message:
In every four-year cycle there are about 1 million American elections, most of which involve marginal differences between conventional candidates. This year's South Carolina Senate contest is one that matters.

It will choose the successor to retiring Sen. Fritz Hollings, 82, a six-term Democrat. If his successor is Rep. Jim DeMint, a Republican, the Senate will acquire a distinctive voice.

His congressional district, once called ``the textile capital of the world,'' seethes with resentment of free trade. Yet he has not flinched from supporting free trade, and now no district in the nation has as high a per-capita investment by international companies, such as BMW and Michelin.

Having served the three terms that he told voters would be his limit, DeMint, 52, wants to take to the Senate his concern about the rising trajectory of American dependency on government. With the Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank, DeMint has developed an ``index of dependency.''

America is in, he says, ``an eleventh-hour crisis'' of democracy because it recently reached a point where a majority are ``dependent on the federal government for their health care, education, income or retirement.'' Tax reforms, from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, have removed many Americans from the income tax rolls: ``Today, the majority of Americans can vote themselves more generous government benefits at little or no cost to themselves.'' DeMint asks: ``How can any free nation survive when a majority of its citizens, now dependent on government services, no longer have the incentive to restrain the growth of government?''

DeMint's fear, that dependency produces ``learned helplessness,'' echoes Tocqueville's warning about government keeping people ``fixed irrevocably in childhood,'' rendering ``the employment of free will less useful and more rare.'' It is, Tocqueville said, ``difficult to conceive how men who have entirely renounced the habit of directing themselves could succeed at choosing well those who will lead them.''

In the context of a welfare state devoted to assuaging the insecurities and augmenting the competencies of its citizens, conservatism's challenge is to use government — collective action — to promo